Newly accredited teacher Lona Hollis joins a westward wagon train with her two cousins. The three young adults are moving to Portland, Oregon, to join the rest of the family where Lona's uncle runs a shipping business. They connect with a small group of twenty-five wagons, but the original captain becomes ill. An appointed leader acquires a new captain who demands all women over age sixteen be married. Such marriages are for convenience and safety only with the option of being annulled when the wagon train arrives in Oregon. Faced with several possibilities, Lona has to make a decision on who will make the best partner...within an hour of meeting him.Laborer Mal MacMurphy needs to move out of New York City. Hanging out with the Irish mob favored by his da and brothers is not healthy. Cousin Sully just died in a knife fight. To make a new start, Mal works his way west on the railroad and joins a wagon train heading on the Oregon Trail. But he has to offer himself in marriage so a single woman can continue the trip. Unfortunately, he's matched with a woman who has a widely different outlook on life. Will the perils they face convince the couple of an inevitable split or force them to rely on each other to stay alive?